FOLSOM, Calif. – Junior Jane Tattersall scored a career-high 10 goals while Brynley Hodge added another five, but St. Francis surrendered a similar performance by Folsom's high-scoring freshman duo of Maya Reddy and Siena Kazinec, ultimately falling by a 19-18 final in the third-place game of the Sierra Foothill/Delta League lacrosse tournament Thursday night.
The Troubadours close out their regular season with an 11-5 overall record, and now await their postseason fate when the North Coast Section announces its D-I bracket on Sunday.
Reddy scored a whopping 12 goals with Kazinec providing another five for the Bulldogs, who hosted the contest as the SFL's third-place team. More importantly for Folsom, however, that tandem dominated the draw: Kazinec with 10 draw controls, Reddy with another six, and junior Allyson Overmyer adding five.
Karly Okamoto provided two goals and two assists for St. Francis, with Zia Smith accounting for the remaining tally. Tattersall led the Troubies with five draw controls and Elizabeth Barger had another three, but the team's 11 total paled in comparison to Folsom's play around the circle – resulting in the second-half shift in momentum and the ultimate sudden-victory goal.
Tattersall scored five goals in each half of play, while Hodge hit four of her five in the first half. It was Tattersall's fifth overall goal, coming off a steal and assist from Barger, that gave SF its largest lead of 9-5 with 5:07 remaining in the first half. Hodge later kept the advantage at four goals, converting a feed from Okamoto to make it 10-6 in the 21st minute.
Still, Reddy and Kazinec scored three straight in succession before a Sara Ellis interception set up an Okamoto trip to the eight-meter arc in the final seconds before the break. Okamoto converted, giving SF its 11-9 halftime lead. Tattersall, Okamoto and Hodge extended the lead to 14-9 on three unanswered goals to start the second half.
At this point, the Reddy-Kazinec pairing took hold. Reddy handled the center duties throughout, with Kazinec on the Troubie side of the circle. The proceed to team up for draw after draw, resulting in a 9-3 run from the 30th through 46th minutes. Overmyer finished that comeback with her drive with 4:35 remaining, giving Folsom the lead at 18-17.
Bulldog goalie Hailley Steele came up with a key save to prevent SF from equalizing with 20 seconds left, but Tattersall won the ensuing ground ball, allowing Troubie head coach Julia Southard to call timeout. The SF junior drew a trip to the eight-meter arc with seconds remaining, and planted the shot for her 10th goal and the game's equalizer at 18-18 with :03 on the game clock.
Folsom won yet another draw to start overtime in the same fashion that led its second-half effort: a Reddy flip to Kazinec. The Bulldogs advanced to the cage, Reddy drew a foul, then hit the game-winner on an eight-meter conversion with 2:13 left.
Tattersall's output raised her season goals total to 65, making her second Troubie in history to surpass 60 goals in a year. Hodge achieved that very feat just two days earlier, meaning the top two slots in the record book belong to those two SF juniors.
The SFL/Delta tourney consisted of pairings of the two leagues' teams, split into smaller four-team mini-tournaments. Folsom, St. Francis, Rio Americano and Del Oro made up the third- and fourth-place portion. The Sac-Joaquin Section does not yet sponsor a championship for girls' lacrosse, putting the Sacramento-area teams in the North Coast Section.
The playoff selections will appear at the NCS website (cifncs.org) and here at GoTroubies.com.
